Long Covid's Dark Gifts: CripWork Rules
One of the dark gifts of Long Covid disability was the way that it forced me to totally rethink what 'work' needs to and can look like.
I was unspeakably lucky to be collaborating with the awesome Laura Malan and Fran Cook from AndGood at the time, who co-lead most Bright Harbour Collective projects in that period.
Together, all healing from March 2020 covid/long covid, we re-wrote the rules of what work looks like.
Shout out to Emily Bazalgette for recently helping me reflect on the magic of the CripWork rules we developed in that period - alongside the rollercoaster and grief of managing evolving chronic illness and new disability.
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The UK public's interests, needs and concerns around food
We are delighted to share the findings from our 6-month exploration of the UK public’s needs, concerns and interests around food for the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland. Findings draw on nationally representative, large-sample quantitative and qualitative data — but also targeted discussions with groups less likely to be heard by food system decision makers.
We explore overall drivers of current public attitudes, experiences and concerns plus 4 key public priorities:
Equitable access to safe, affordable, healthy food
Ensuring high-quality food safety, hygiene and standards
Guiding fair, ethical and sustainable food systems and futures
Making it easier to access and choose healthy, nutritious food
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Researchers & designers: let's fix our broken consent forms.
2 uncomfortable truths: most consent forms don’t do the job well, and far too many are straight up unethical.
10-pages of legalese that feel like participants can’t question ‘the experts’. 1-page consents that don’t actually meet basic participant rights requirements, including talking about how data will be used or what’s involved in participation. Smart folks in smart teams who’ve never heard of GDPR* before, and whose consent forms raise big ethical red flags — and a whole lot of legal risk. Lots and lots and lots of forms that participants don’t read, or don’t understand, and/or don’t understand they don’t have to sign if they don’t want to.
We’ve given our standard template some love and care, shared it with the community and evolved it together, and are making it open source for use.
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When a pandemic hits and the fridge is empty: food in the time of Covid-19
After months of living with Covid-19, it is already easy to forget the uncertainties, anxieties and fears of Spring 2020, as relied-on routines, social connections, and stabilities evaporated. For many, food offered a source of small comforts, nourishment, and stability amidst profound uncertainty.
For the people represented in this research experiences were very different. Food was a continual source of concern and worry rather than nourishment or security. Birthdays with no birthday cake; day after day of peas on toast; freezers full of bread but nothing else; worsening health and mental health. Many quickly cut calorie intake and reduced the quality of food eaten — with far-reaching physical and emotional impacts. Many children went without.
This post presents a few key findings from our research on food insecurity with the Food Standards Agency during Spring/Summer 2020. The FSA has made our full report available for public use, including 4 case studies (summary images included below) that show the complexity of how food insecurity experiences. We hope they will be helpful for those supporting people in need.
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